Israeli police arrested four of six Palestinians who escaped from maximum security prison

Israeli police arrested four of the six Palestinians who escaped from Israeli police in the north of the country on Friday evening. high security prison from Gilboa.

Since his escape on Monday morning through a tunnel dug under a sink, the authorities were looking for them in Israeli territory and in the West Bank, where the fugitives had come from.

It was believed that they could have left the country by crossing the border into neighboring Jordan, although around four of them were arrested. 30 kilometers from the prison.

Late Friday, police announced the arrest in Nazareth, the main Arab city in northern Israel, of two members of the Islamic Jihad armed group: Jacob Qadri, 48 years old and Mahmoud Ardah, 45 years old.

“The police found them and chased them by helicopter. They were held without resistance in southern Nazareth,” a police spokesperson said of the two fugitives.

According to Israeli media, the authorities received an alert from residents of this city who warned of the presence of two men looking for food in the trash cans

And early this Saturday, Israeli police announced the arrest of two other escapees “who they were hiding in a truck parking lot. “

It is Zakaria al Zubeidi, former known leader of the armed wing of the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abas, and Mahmoud Ardah.

The arrests took place in the Arab town of Shibli Umm al Ghanam, about ten kilometers east of Nazareth.

“The two men were captured by a team made up of members of the special anti-terrorism police unit and members of the Shin Bet (the internal security service) after an intense search,” Israeli police said.

Since Monday, the security forces, including the army, had launched a huge operation Find the six escapees from Gilboa Prison through the tunnel.

Prison service images showed the hidden hole in the bathroom of a cell. Outside, officers found another hole dug in the ground.

Demonstrations have taken place in the Palestinian territories in recent days in support of the fugitives and several of them have ended with riots with Israeli security forces.

In this tense context, a Palestinian attacker who tried to stab a policeman in the Old City of Jerusalem was seriously injured. injured by the gunshots of the officer and died shortly after.

With information from AFP.